Hands loosely folded in prayerThumbs touch, resting like lover’s headsHe below, she leaning in, sharedWonderment in the flowerbed’sSoft pillow, the day above in blueAnd should the night roll right aroundLike a counterweight, the viewOf heaven’s host of lights be found.

Hands loosely folded in prayerLips want to kiss the cool thumbnailsTwo half-moons under shiny veilsAnd nostrils rest and draw uponThe air and light from father, son,One hand the parent to the otherThe space they share, theirs discoveredA place for holy spirit there.

Hands loosely folded in prayerFingertips touch the mountainous knucklesLike unborn children’s heads to knees.Before the bosom, one’s childhood sucklesUpon itself in dreaming seasAnd so the hands become a wombEnfolded spirals like seashell roomsBreath at the foot of the stairs.

Hands loosely folded in prayerFingers make furrows across a moundA fertile world, two roots going downTo elbows anchored near the hipsThe space between where eyes like shipsApproaching a bright new world exploreThe fissures leading to the coreThe fecund treasure there.

Hands loosely folded in prayerThe folded fingers a double roofThe heels of palms the floor, the hoovesOf goats that press on angled wallsStarlight streaming above the stallsThumbs move now from lips to foreheadThird eye the star that sees the bedAnd the baby cradled there.

tether it here, in the cool midnight air of light
waving warm rippled streams, enter into my dreams
loosen my lean swathes of flesh.
encolour my chest, inrush an infusion of beams
fill the crater inside, warm its tide of new life
overwhelm all the sides, make a nest.
awaken fractal tendrils of power.
give the breath girth and width
carry clear heart forthwith from the window
of my tenanted tower.

may sourcewaters flow free from this well
in this uncharted realm, let my lungs be the helm
and my ribcage cut waters in half.
end the occupation of lies and constriction
call my spirit return from its enclosure of fiction
and fiercely guard this new craft.
call the corners of walls to new dominion
seal all corridors, redraw lines of permission
sound inside a long note that now lets down the diaphragm.
ancient ancestral fathers of yore
expand me to be as I am once more.

Your liver is alive! It calls on you
(And in pain can be quite urgent)
To help it now enthuse with yellow light!
In the rainbow light spectrum of your body,
Your liver lives at the level of the swathe
Of living yellow light that forms a band above the waist.
Look at that liver! A large wedge of living tissue
That takes the living nature of god’s creation
From the food absorbed by the bounteous bloodstream
And catalyses it into the lifeforms that fuel your being.
What a wonderful aspect of being –
Receiving from the world all its bounty
And supporting the heart to love fully in the world!
Vigilant in its power –
Filtering out all the poisons and dangers that beset the world.
What thanks we give to the liver!
The liver, the lover of life.
We honour it now with washes of yellow light.
Repel the invader, support the wonderful warrior liver!
No mention of meat and decay in the body –
Cancerous notions of the growth of substance without consciousness –
will ever deny the liver its largesse, its lifting power,
The laughter and license of life itself!
The liver, the wedge of lemon suffused with the juice
Of the the ‘zing’ that sings in life-well-lived.
Praise and love to the liver!
Let sunshine lighten its burden now!
Golden honey, lambent candle flame,
Lemons and melons and the glowing memories
Found in autumn’s radiant leaves of yellow.
We heed to the calling of the liver
And love it now for its courageous and loyal service.
Amen.